Group to defend SB5 makes it official

Tuesday

May 31, 2011 at 12:01 AMMay 31, 2011 at 12:11 PM

This fall, it will be We Are Ohio versus Building a Better Ohio in a multimillion-dollar clash over collective bargaining power of public workers, pitting Democrats and union supporters against Republicans, business groups and tea party affiliates.

This fall, it will be We Are Ohio versus Building a Better Ohio in a multimillion-dollar clash over collective bargaining power of public workers, pitting Democrats and union supporters against Republicans, business groups and tea party affiliates.

We Are Ohio has spent more than a month gathering signatures to get a referendum on the November ballot and attempt to overturn Senate Bill 5, a new GOP-crafted law that would significantly weaken collective bargaining power for about 360,000 public workers in Ohio.

Today, the battle was officially joined by Building a Better Ohio, a nonprofit organization that, leaders say, will fully (and voluntarily) disclose all contributions to the secretary of state’s office. Vaughn Flasher, a veteran lobbyist and Republican campaign strategist who since 2006 has led the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, is heading the group.

Gov. John Kasich, Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, and House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, also will be involved with the group, which filed its paperwork with the secretary of state this morning.

The group’s website, www.betterohio.org, says, “It's a grassroots coalition of Ohioans who support the effort to reform Ohio and to restore fairness and flexibility to middle class taxpayers, while getting the cost of government under control.”

Previewing some of their key talking points, the web site says Senate Bill 5, which eliminates binding arbitration as a way to settle contract disputes for safety forces, bans public workers from striking and limits what can be bargained, will “help keep our hard-working teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public servants on the job.”

The group also argues that the bill will “protect middle class taxpayers” and give governments the “flexibility to manage our tax dollars.”

We Are Ohio, which is expected to have little trouble gathering the 231,000 signatures from registered voters needed to get on the November ballot, has argued that the bill is an attack on the middle class and public workers that will drive down wages and benefits for all Ohioans.

The group has until June 30 to collect its signatures. A Qunnipiac Poll taken in mid-May found Ohioans favor repealing the law, 54 percent to 36 percent.